Friday, 13 September 2013

Friday Favourites

Huh? It's Friday again? How on earth did that happen? Has your week rushed past in a blur, too? Will I ever stop asking questions?

Mercifully the second week of school has been a bit calmer; we've more or less settled back into the school run routine, and I'm getting used to waking up at a sensible time again. The house is still an absolute pigsty, so maybe I should collect a series of household organisational tips for next week?Favourite Breakfast: Primal Smoothies!

I have been trying to ease my way back into Primal eating. (AKA the caveman diet or paleo). It's proving hard to resist the lure of bread and sugar--it always is in the first week--but I am doing my very best to resist their siren song.

This morning I made Lucas and I an amazing Cherry & Cashew smoothie for breakfast. It really was epic!! To save time in the mornings, I think I'm going to try making my own smoothie packs so that I can just dump pre-measured ingredients into the food processor, add liquid, and blitz away. Good for those dozy, half-asleep mornings!

Put the hemp seeds and peeled banana in the food processor and blitz until the hemp seeds have broken down a little. Chuck in the cherries and cashew butter, blitz until smooth. Add the protein powder and pulse in, then lastly pour the almond milk in while the motor is running until you've got the consistency right for your tastes.

Like many, many other children, Lucas loves the Minions from Despicable Me (and Despicable Me 2). He spent most of the summer holiday speaking in "Minion", which led to a lot of blank stares on my part. I will admit that they're super-cute and quite funny...I think I'm probably going to make him a 3D Minion birthday cake--shhh!

Is there anyone who isn't absolutely glued to The Great British Bake Off? The only finer cooking show on TV is Masterchef: The Professionals or the creme de la creme... Masterchef Australia. (I can't wait until Masterchef Australia returns to our screens!! George and Gary are far more credible as chefs than John Torode. As evidenced by the blank looks and lacklustre whooping when Torode "guest starred" in the Australian version last year.) Whoops...I've gone off at a bit of a tangent--sorry!

I've been thoroughly enjoying flicking through the "Your Bakes" section of the GBBO website. There are some very talented cake decorators and bakers out there! I might upload a couple of cakes from my previous cake-laden post to the gallery, but I'd be devastated if no one liked them!!

Smoothies make great breakfasts until it gets properly chilly in the mornings. When it gets colder I'll stew up some fruit and have it slightly warmed with Greek yoghurt--love the hot/cold--and some nuts and seeds for extra protein and good fats. Some hemp seeds wouldn't go amiss either, but not too many as they can be a bit overpowering!

I gave up on healthy eating through summer. I just made sure I had at least one portion of green veg a day and threw up my hands at everything else. I need to exercise Maximum Willpower for two days so that I can get back into the groove... That'll have to wait till Tuesday though. I'm off to a cream tea on Monday!

Intrigued by the cherry/cashew one! The smoothie idea is also a very good one. As for suitable careers for minions, oh, there are so many. I wouldn't know where to begin. I'd love to send them to my old crappy job..just to see them mess around with the people there.